What is the issue?

Many believer’s today live like orphans. Being an orphan isn’t just being fatherless or motherless, it is a mindset! It’s a mindset of feeling like you don’t belong somewhere, feeling like you have no family, no friends, and you don’t fit in anywhere. As people, young and old, come into the kingdom their identity changes, from an orphan to a son. You shed the clothing of abandoned, rejected, and lost for belonging, accepted, and saved. Yet, many times, people enter the kingdom and keep their old clothing, keeping their identity as an orphan. They carry baggage from their past life and put a worldly perspective on who the Father is. When we come into the kingdom we have full access to the Father’s table. Orphans are constantly trying to earn their place at the table when Sons are already seated at the table. The orphan mindset causes us to see the Father as a controlling or distant God who withholds good things from us until we earn or deserve them. We see this play out in the story of the two sons in Luke 15. The younger son sees his Father as controlling and demands his inheritance so he can go out on his own while the older son thinks his Father is withholding good from him despite his perfect attempt to earn favor from the Father. Both of these sons had an orphan mindset. Do you?

Why is this happening?

When Jesus went to the cross He freed us from not only the punishment of our sins but also dismantled the hold that shame and guilt has on our lives. Unfortuantely many believers are living with the consequences of there past and present sins and continue to stay trapped in the bondage of shame and guilt and that keeps them from being able to get free from the sin in their lives. Can you imagine how the woman caught in adultery from John chapter 8 must have felt? Imagine the shame and the guilt that she must have felt in that moment, to be paraded in front of all the important leaders of the day, knowing that with every passing minute she was getting closer to her most certain death. She was being brought before the most righteous and holy person to ever walk the earth, all the while her accusers where sneering at the fact that there was no possible way for this “Friend of Sinners” to not agree that she must be stoned. Finally the moment arrived, they had finally made it from the chambers of her greatest failure to what would become her final resting point. The outcome the religious leaders of the day expected for this woman is the same one that we anticipate every time we stand before the Lord. The only thing we can see is our failures and mistakes and we are overwhelmed by our shame. But what does He say about you?

How do we fix it?

Let’s finish the story from John 8. When Jesus says “let him who is without sin cast the first stone” He was disqualifying every person there to throw a stone while uniquely qualifying Himself as a sinless man to pick one up. But what does He do instead? He releases compassion that breaks the shame, mercy that eradicates the guilt, and grace to overcome the sin. It is time for us to begin to take a look at how God feels about our shame, guilt, and sin. In doing this we discover who we were created to be, and not what circumstances, people, or media have tried to tell us we are or should be. We do this through meditating on His Word, listening to His voice, and being discipled by mentors who have made the journey from an orphan to a son. Through teaching, practical application, and modeling what identity and sonship look like we can raise up a generation of young and old to see their positions as sons. Let’s make a return to our original created value. Let’s know who we are and then show the world. Who will you be?

Do You Know Who You Are?

We want to bring the message of Sonship to every believer. We are available to come and share with your church, youth group, school assembly, and more.

Standing Out vs Fitting In 17 November, 2017 By Bryant We were all made to stand out and make a difference. Every single person desires to fit in and be accepted. So which one do you choose? Can you really do both at the same time? I think deep down inside each...